Picking a vendor to run the digital platform of the virtual CES 2021, culminating in the October choice of Microsoft (see 2010190043), started with about 60 contenders, CTA President Gary Shapiro told us last week. Among the factors, “we went with Microsoft because they had done their own event,” he said of the Microsoft Ignite all-digital conference that debuted Sept. 22. “We actually signed up and watched it” as part of the evaluation, he said. “Microsoft had so many things we wanted, including a production studio, and they obviously know how to do cybersecurity,” said Shapiro. “There was a lot of chemistry.” The deal includes "things they hadn’t done before” such as show registrations and other CES-centric activities, Shapiro said. “There are other companies that were brought in as subcontractors. It’s a pretty complicated relationship.” Shapiro traveled earlier in December to Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters to do “production work,” he said. “Essentially, we’ve gone from producing a physical event to producing a number of TV shows. It’s totally different for us.” CTA is “able to do things” in the digital domain it never would have considered before, including changing the CES show dates six months out, he said, laughing. CTA originally planned to do the virtual show on the same Jan. 6-10 dates as the canceled physical Las Vegas show before moving to Jan. 11-14.
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The FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee OK'd recommendations from the Increasing Broadband Investment in Low-Income Communities working group Thursday (see 2010290057). The delayed report met with mixed reactions.
CES 2021 as an all-virtual event has pre-show registrations “into six figures,” CTA President Gary Shapiro told us Wednesday. A stickler for years for physical CES independent attendance audits, CTA has no methodology for measuring or verifying its such digital participation, he conceded. “The challenge that we’re facing is that we’d love to audit that, but there’s no established auditing procedures for doing who attends. We do have a reputation for honesty that’s well-deserved, and we bolstered it by having an independent audit. The numbers should be clean in terms of what we finally get.” CTA originally planned to do the virtual CES 2021 on the same Jan. 6-10 dates as the canceled physical Las Vegas show before moving it to Jan. 11-14.
The FCC Wireline Bureau said Monday it extended the gift rule waiver deadline to June 30 for E-rate and Rural Health Care program participants. The original deadline of Sept. 30, 2020, was previously extended to the end of this year (see 2009030063).
FuboTV added MGM's Epix network original programming and movies to its live TV streaming platform, it said Friday. FuboTV subscribers also will have access to thousands of Epix titles on demand, including select programming in 4K, in the coming weeks. The $5.99 monthly Epix package will be available to subscribers for the first 30 days after launch for $2.99 for their first three months. Also Friday, Nexstar said WGN America will join fuboTV's channel lineup in January. The multiyear carriage deal follows a similar one announced with YouTube TV (see 2012020054).
Warner’s decision to release 2021 blockbuster titles simultaneously in theaters and with a one-month window on its HBO Max streaming service is “a very costly one for everyone involved,” MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett wrote investors Friday. “We have a hard time believing the messaging that this is only a temporary 2021 plan,” said the analyst, “even if that might be the current plan today. Once the windows change, it will be hard to go back.” It’s “hard to find any winners here,” he said, ticking off AT&T, participants/rights holders and U.S. theater owners who will suffer “another unexpected big hit.” Despite growing consensus that coming COVID-19 vaccines should help return the U.S. to some normalcy by mid-2021, the Warner Bros. decision “puts a damper on those expectations for movie attendance,” he said. It’s unclear whether U.S. exhibitors will agree to play the upcoming Warner 2021 movie slate, “given the unattractive terms of running films that are simultaneously available for ‘free’ on HBO Max,” though given the difficult position most theater owners are in today, it will be hard for them to hold the line on an exclusive theatrical window, he said. The Warner announcement is ahead of any expected update from Disney this week “of likely plans to alter their own traditional theatrical windowing strategy,” Moffett said. While studios have been pressuring exhibitors to shrink the theatrical window for some time, WarnerMedia is the first to “blow up the model by skipping an exclusive theatrical window altogether.” The Pay 1 window -- where studios typically break even on their original investment -- is now the HBO Max release, which “no longer generates cash; instead, it merely shifts content between WarnerMedia segments,” he said. Going all in on the biggest blockbusters seems “overly aggressive vs. a simple window change.” The move will likely spur new subscriptions to HBO Max, which until now “has simply not been all that differentiated" from HBO, which has "floated at a penetration rate of 1/3 of US Pay TV homes for many, many years," he said. “But at what cost?” Warner didn’t comment Friday.
Hill conferees’ version of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act retains some modified language from separate House- and Senate-passed versions of the measure (HR-6395/S-4049) aimed at hindering Ligado’s L-band plan rollout, as expected (see 2011230063). Ligado’s supporters and opponents aren’t completely satisfied with the language, though both sides spun it as a relative win. Some also believe it’s unlikely the FCC will act soon on the Ligado approval petitions for reconsideration pending before it (see 2005210043). The FCC didn't comment.
T-Mobile revised a complaint against San Francisco to remove five of 16 wireless siting applications from its claim alleging the city delayed permitting (see 2011200046). It added one more application to the claim, so the amended complaint now seeks declaratory ruling affirming deemed-granted status of 12 applications to modify wireless facilities. “Since T-Mobile filed the initial Complaint, the City has issued permits for five of the applications identified in the original Complaint,” said the amended complaint (in Pacer).
The latest U.S. plus streaming video service is Discovery’s, slated for a Jan. 4 debut. Pricing for discovery+ is $6.99 for the ad-free version, $4.99 with ads. Discovery is partnering with Verizon, which will “accelerate adoption” by giving six or 12 months free on select broadband and wireless plans. Verizon was a partner when Disney+ launched last year. Content will include original series across Discovery brands, with shows from HGTV, Food Network, TLC, ID, OWN, Travel Channel, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet. Discovery+ will be the streaming home of the Olympic Games in Europe, except in Russia, and Eurosport's premium sport offering.
Ballard Spahr hires trademark attorney Susan Smith from Hunton Andrews as partner, Trademark and Copyright practice group ... TechNet adds Servando Esparza, ex-Bird Rides, as executive director-Texas and the Southeast ... Electronic Transactions Association hires Max Behlke, ex-National Conference of State Legislatures, as director-state government affairs.